The Cham calendar ( Cham: ꨧꨆꨥꨪ ''sakawi'') is a lunisolar calendar used by the

Cham people The Chams (Cham language, Cham: , چام, ''cam''), or Champa people (Cham language, Cham: , اوراڠ چمڤا, ''Urang Campa''; or ; , ), are an Austronesian peoples, Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia and are the original inhabi ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

since ancient times. Its origins is based on ''Saka Raja'' calendar which was influenced by the

Shaka era The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year (calendar), Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of the Indian ...

(78 CE) Indian

Hindu calendar The Hindu calendar, also called Panchangam, Panchanga (), is one of various lunisolar calendars that are traditionally used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, with further regional variations for social and Hindu religious purposes ...

, with the current standard called ''Sakawi Cham'' likely instituted during the reign of Po Rome of the

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

kingdom.

Features

The Cham calendar (Sakawi Cam/Cham) has a system of a set of revolving cycles of days, weeks, months and years. The Cham month consists of two lunar phases of 15 days each. The 1st half denotes the full moon phase called ''Bingun'' (Śukla pakṣa), while the new moon phase is called ''Kanem'' (Kṛṣṇa pakṣa). The 12 year cycle similar to Chinese zodiac is referred to as ''Nasak''(12 Nasak from 27/28 Nakṣatra). The Cham calendar known as Sakawi Cam is a term used to encompass two calendar variants. *''Sakawi Ahier'': This is used by Bhap Cam/Chăm Bà La Môn and is Chams' lunisolar calendar in nature. *''Sakawi Awal'': This is used by Bhap Ni/Hồi Giáo Bà Ni and is Javanese lunar calendar in nature. The calendar is used as an agricultural almanac to ascertain the time of cultivation. The biggest Cham festival known as ''Kate'' falls on the 1st day of the seventh Cham month (9th Imlek month).

Sakawi Ahier

System

The names of the days of the Cham week were derived from their

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

names used in the traditional

. The length of the month: the full month (balan tapăk) has 30 days and the hollow month (balan u) has 29 days. Balan Mak āgha

Cham zodiac

The Cham zodiac is similar to the Vietnamese zodiac in its usage and arrangement of animals, but replaces the

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

with the turtle (''kra''); the cat with the rabbit (Tapay).

Sakawi Awal

This variant is influenced by of 12 Arabic lunar months system consisting of 29-30 days. It uses an 8 year cycle called ''Ikessarak''. This variant is used for certain Islamic festivals observed by the Bani Chams.

Festivals

Important festivals in the Cham calendar: *Rija Nukan- Cham New Year(Mar/Apr) *Katê- Harvest festival(Sep)

Features

Sakawi Ahier

System

Cham zodiac

Sakawi Awal

Festivals

See also

References

Further reading